21-year-old Japane­se star will also become the new world number one if she beats sevent­h seed in the finalMELBOURNE: Fourth seed Naomi Osaka outgunned Karolina Pliskova Thursday to set up an Australian Open final against Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova. “I expected it, I expected a really hard battle,” Osaka said of Pliskova’s attempt to come back from a set and a break down. Pliskova double faulted to hand Osaka a second break and the Japanese star went on to serve out the set with an ace after 32 minutes. The opening four games of the second set all went against serve as Pliskova threw everything at Osaka trying to find a way back into the match. She held on until two unforced errors, trailing at 5-4, handed a jubilant Pliskova the second set after 41 minutes.

Source: The Express Tribune January 24, 2019 08:26 UTC